Musher

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈmʌʃə/

Definitions

1. A person responsible for directing a team of dogs harnessed to a sled on snowy paths
2. An individual who guides and manages dogs pulling a sled while traversing snow-covered terrain
3. A person who controls and leads a dog team pulling a sled across snow-covered landscapes

Etymology: The "mush" in "musher" is a verb that comes from French. In Canada and Alaska, teams of sled dogs were driven with the command "marche" or "marchons" ("go" or "let's go"), and English speakers spoke these imperatives as "mush," which became a verb meaning to drive dogs across snow. Adding the agent suffix "-er" produced the person doing the driving. Some suggest a different origin: that the word derives from a slang term for cab drivers who owned their own cab, with "mush" possibly coming from "mushroom," a slang word for umbrella, since drivers shielded passengers in the rain. The word is attested slightly earlier than that slang, so this explanation is uncertain and remains unproven.

Synonyms: dog driver, sled driver